Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends Stable Coin evolution and market trends Key observations PwC’s market analysis | October 2018 www.pwc.com.au 2 Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends 3 Key observations in 5 9 Presently there are at least 75 projects Stablecoins should not be equated with the Stable Coin Evolution that could be considered “stable coin” asset they are backed by in terms of safety projects. With the deluge of projects and and stability. The legitimacy and long term the amount of capital they have raised, the viability of some stablecoins will be at the The stable coin evolution and trends discussed in this paper are the interpretation of information cryptocurrency space could enter into its whim of investor expectations. Understanding gathered via market research and questionnaires sent to 50+ stable coin projects. They are own form of quantitative easing. This may be what these coins truly represent and their therefore interpretation of this data from the authors at the time this paper was drafted. driven by fiat or asset backed funds entering functionalities is a must for anyone who is the ecosystem that could find it’s way into looking to deploy capital into this market. George Samman investing into many of the cryptocurrency Co-Authors: John(3rd party Shipman expert) (PwC) George Samman projects trading on exchanges. [email protected] (3rd party expert) [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/ in/georgesamman/ 10 6 Fiat-backed stablecoins can never be100% Executive Summary censorship resistant, permission-less and Exchanges are hedging themselves against trust-less. However they do have substantial the risk of only having one asset backed benefits versus fiat currencies due to their stable coin and adding new fiat-backed (USD ability to be programmable (both for money mainly) stablecoins onto their exchanges and compliance) and easily transferable. 1 3 at great pace. Projects to note in this regard are Okex and Huobi who appear Fiat-backed stablecoins need to establish An associated set of ancillary services to have added a number of stablecoins traditional banking relationships in order to will also need to evolve around the recently to hedge in this manner. hold the currency that the stablecoin is backed validation, certification and reconciliation 11 to. There are still several inhibitors for large of these reserves to digital assets. multinational banks to take on this role and Accountancies will need to evolve to Many of the projects are not simply offer this service, due to reputational, regulatory offer digital asset to physical asset audit looking to see their stable coins utilized uncertainty and therefore compliance risks. services for stablecoins (whether this is 7 for trading in the cryptocurrency Therefore, in many cases this role falls on the a currency, virtual or a physical asset ecosystem but to compete with fiat shoulders of regional banks, trust companies such as gold or iron ore or wheat). Gemini USD and Paxos Stablecoins, currencies on a global scale. or boutique financial institutions. With some of could be seen as the most regulated of these fiat-backed stablecoins being backed all the fiat-backed/asset backed tokens. to hundreds of millions of dollars this poses They are subject to the terms contained substantial solvency and credit risks. Uptake of 4 In the source code which include the right stable coin use is therefore in part reliant on of forfeiture or seizure and other reasons 12 traditional banking services. A whole new industry is beginning to form unrelated to the holding of the stablecoins. around stablecoins-ancillary plays like Corion We anticipate that the key innovations will X and Standard.one also known as Cement come from crypto-backed and algorithmic Dao (Cement DAO creates a decentralized backed/seigniorage based stablecoins. 2 ecosystem of stablecoin rating agents). The community of BUILD token holders vote to 8 As part of our research, many of the whitelist the “best” stablecoins, allowing survey respondents’ stable coin projects are them to be added to a diversified basket. One of the key focus areas for some 1:1 backed to digital assets (100% reserves) stablecoins achieving their stated as well as real life assets like USD or gold. stability goals will be to create As the markets take confidence in the baskets of uncorrelated assets. liquidity and safety of these new stable digital currency markets, the ability to move to fractional reserves will likely become a reality. (Fractional reserves - where only a % of the digital or physical asset backs the token) 4 Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends 5 1. General Observations Price volatility is one of the most significant Only then will can it be considered a legitimate obstacles in the adoption of cryptocurrencies medium of exchange and store of value by for a number of reasons. Firstly, it keeps day-to-day users, merchants and savers. It the currency attractive mainly for traders is also difficult for merchants or even simple 5 7 and speculators, not ordinary day-to-day peer-to-peer transactors to conduct business if users interested in using it as a medium there is no consistent measure of value for the General Observations Launch & Marketing of exchange. Price fluctuations also cause cryptocurrency they would like to use. Volatility enormous currency risk, as cryptocurrencies is therefore a significant contributor to keeping can depreciate or appreciate dramatically cryptocurrencies as a niche digital asset favoured relative to fiat currencies, generating a loss by speculators. As opposed to its targeted for users who are holding cryptocurrencies. direction as a revolutionary technology that The loss can either be direct or indirect. allows a decentralised and secure flow of money. a. Direct in that the cryptocurrencies Most Stable Coin projects we have observed 8 9 depreciate heavily against fiat. are currently built on top of the public Ethereum network. Most appear willing to change if Indirect when cryptocurrencies appreciate, Economics Technology b. issues around scalability and sharding aren’t in that a merchant’s products are too fixed relatively soon. Some are building on expensive, making them uncompetitive. other blockchains (EOS3, Hashgraph4, Dash5, Or, employee salaries and supply chain trialled Ripple6 and Stellar7 NXT8, etc) and others costs increase, reducing their margins. have started by building their own blockchains (Bitbay and Algorand and Kowala and Topl). Thus, there needs to be stability within a range of currency values for both upside and The majority of the respondents are fiat backed in downside protection. This in turn will support in a 1:1 capacity followed by cryptocurrencies such 11 12 protecting incomes, savings, business margins as Ether or commodities such as gold. Others and to allow for more reasonable business are backed by a basket of different currencies Regulation Testing planning and forecasting when transacting (fiat and/or crypto) where they are using different or saving in this medium. Something akin metrics and standards to decide the weightings. 1 to a buy wall of a generic currency peg, Others such as Boreal, are backed from which prevents the price of the currency from revenues on a decentralised exchange IDEX. dropping and a sell wall2, which prevents a large upward spike, is necessary to maintain a stable value of a cryptocurrency such 14 that is comparable to fiat price stability. Appendix A: Questionnaire 1 A buy wall happens when the amount/size of buy orders for 4 Carbon. a particular coin are much higher than the number of sell 5 Xank. orders. Traders want to buy more than they want to sell. 6 SendGolD. 2 A sell wall is the opposite of a buy wall where there are many 7 more sell orders than buy orders. This is price negative. Stronghold, The White Company. 8 3 Havven & SendGold. RYOcoin. 6 Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends Stable Coin Evolution and Market Trends 7 Stablecoins are in the early development phase Revenue models17 used by respondents at this point in time and the design paradigms are (in no particular order): 2. Launch & Marketing still forming for what may be the future of money. a. Not for profit. Most of these coins are stable and being tokenized versus the USD.9 Based on the b. Revenue/dividends or investing part responses the USD should be the most tokenized of the asset in a low risk products like Bootstrapping18 is vital as all of these projects The following methods are being liquid asset in the cryptocurrency space over goverment bonds or money market funds. require liquidity in the coin. This can be done used to increase viability: the next 12-24 months. The other categories Network transaction fees which through incentivizing miners as in the case of c. Dual token models are being used so one are 1) other fiat currencies, 2) a basket of include workflow execution fees. Kowala. The ability to convert between deposits a. currencies, 3) commodities 4) cryptocurrencies in banks accounts and stablecoins are important can have capital appreciation of one of and 5) indexes like the consumer price d. Withdrawal fees. as is being able to trade on exchanges. Financial the tokens while the other token is pegged index (CPI) or a UN FAO Food Index.10 transparency is essential in order to prove out the to an underlying asset in the project. e. Vaulting fees in the case of Hellogold reserve, view transactions and other information for the physical gold (this will probably Dual token models are being used in some via smart contracts or be able to check on gold b. The models that are using baskets are trying become more common for other cases.
Recommended publications
  • Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder
    Insight Consumer and Wealth Management Digital Assets: Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder Parsing the Beauty from the Beast. Investment Strategy Group | June 2021 Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani Chief Investment Officer Investment Strategy Group Goldman Sachs The co-authors give special thanks to: Farshid Asl Managing Director Matheus Dibo Shahz Khatri Vice President Vice President Brett Nelson Managing Director Michael Murdoch Vice President Jakub Duda Shep Moore-Berg Harm Zebregs Vice President Vice President Vice President Shivani Gupta Analyst Oussama Fatri Yousra Zerouali Vice President Analyst ISG material represents the views of ISG in Consumer and Wealth Management (“CWM”) of GS. It is not financial research or a product of GS Global Investment Research (“GIR”) and may vary significantly from those expressed by individual portfolio management teams within CWM, or other groups at Goldman Sachs. 2021 INSIGHT Dear Clients, There has been enormous change in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology since we first wrote about it in 2017. The number of cryptocurrencies has increased from about 2,000, with a market capitalization of over $200 billion in late 2017, to over 8,000, with a market capitalization of about $1.6 trillion. For context, the market capitalization of global equities is about $110 trillion, that of the S&P 500 stocks is $35 trillion and that of US Treasuries is $22 trillion. Reported trading volume in cryptocurrencies, as represented by the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has increased sixfold, from an estimated $6.8 billion per day in late 2017 to $48.6 billion per day in May 2021.1 This data is based on what is called “clean data” from Coin Metrics; the total reported trading volume is significantly higher, but much of it is artificially inflated.2,3 For context, trading volume on US equity exchanges doubled over the same period.
    [Show full text]
  • Banking on Bitcoin: BTC As Collateral
    Banking on Bitcoin: BTC as Collateral Arcane Research Bitstamp Arcane Research is a part of Arcane Crypto, Bitstamp is the world’s longest-running bringing data-driven analysis and research cryptocurrency exchange, supporting to the cryptocurrency space. After launch in investors, traders and leading financial August 2019, Arcane Research has become institutions since 2011. With a proven track a trusted brand, helping clients strengthen record, cutting-edge market infrastructure their credibility and visibility through and dedication to personal service with a research reports and analysis. In addition, human touch, Bitstamp’s secure and reliable we regularly publish reports, weekly market trading venue is trusted by over four million updates and articles to educate and share customers worldwide. Whether it’s through insights. their intuitive web platform and mobile app or industry-leading APIs, Bitstamp is where crypto enters the world of finance. For more information, visit www.bitstamp.net 2 Banking on Bitcoin: BTC as Collateral Banking on bitcoin The case for bitcoin as collateral The value of the global market for collateral is estimated to be close to $20 trillion in assets. Government bonds and cash-based securities alike are currently the most important parts of a well- functioning collateral market. However, in that, there is a growing weakness as rehypothecation creates a systemic risk in the financial system as a whole. The increasing reuse of collateral makes these assets far from risk-free and shows the potential instability of the financial markets and that it is more fragile than many would like to admit. Bitcoin could become an important part of the solution and challenge the dominating collateral assets in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Should the Federal Reserve Issue a Central Bank Digital Currency? by Paul H
    Should the Federal Reserve Issue a Central Bank Digital Currency? By Paul H. Kupiec August 2021 During Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s July 2021 congressional testimony, several elected members encouraged Powell to fast-track the issuance of a Federal Reserve digital cur- rency. Chairman Powell indicated he is not convinced there is a need for a Fed digital currency. But he also indicated that Fed staff are actively studying the issue and that his opinion could change based on their findings and recommendations. In this report, I explain how a new Fed- eral Reserve digital currency would interface with the existing payment system and review the policy issues associated with introducing a Fed digital currency. The Bank for International Settlements defines Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2021b). “central bank digital currency” as “a digital payment Digital deposits are money recorded in (electronic) instrument, denominated in the national unit of ledger entries with no physical form. Digital Fed- account, that is a direct liability of the central eral Reserve deposits can only be held by financial bank” (BIS 2020). In his semiannual appearance institutions (primarily banks) eligible for master before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome accounts at a Federal Reserve bank. Powell indicated that the Fed was studying the idea Most businesses and consumers are not eligible of creating a new dollar-based central bank digital to own Federal Reserve master accounts, so they currency (USCBDC) (Lee 2021). The design of cannot own Federal Reserve digital deposits under USCBDC has important implications for the US finan- current arrangements. They can own central bank cial system.
    [Show full text]
  • Blockchain 101 for Lawyers and 2019 Year in Review
    Blockchain 101 for Lawyers and 2019 Year in Review February 19, 2020 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CT Bar Association New Britain, CT CT Bar Institute, Inc. CT: 1.0 CLE Credits (General) NY: 1.0 CLE Credits (AOP) No representation or warranty is made as to the accuracy of these materials. Readers should check primary sources where appropriate and use the traditional legal research techniques to make sure that the information has not been affected or changed by recent developments. Page 1 of 51 Lawyers’ Principles of Professionalism As a lawyer I must strive to make our system of justice work fairly and Where consistent with my client's interests, I will communicate with efficiently. In order to carry out that responsibility, not only will I comply opposing counsel in an effort to avoid litigation and to resolve litigation with the letter and spirit of the disciplinary standards applicable to all that has actually commenced; lawyers, but I will also conduct myself in accordance with the following Principles of Professionalism when dealing with my client, opposing I will withdraw voluntarily claims or defense when it becomes apparent parties, their counsel, the courts and the general public. that they do not have merit or are superfluous; Civility and courtesy are the hallmarks of professionalism and should not I will not file frivolous motions; be equated with weakness; I will endeavor to be courteous and civil, both in oral and in written I will make every effort to agree with other counsel, as early as possible, on communications; a voluntary
    [Show full text]
  • What Keeps Stablecoins Stable?
    What Keeps Stablecoins Stable? Richard K. Lyons and Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj∗ First version: December 21, 2019 (posted SSRN) This version: May 3, 2020 Abstract We take this question to be isomorphic to, "What Keeps Fixed Exchange Rates Fixed?" and address it with analysis familiar in exchange-rate economics. Stablecoins solve the volatility problem by pegging to a national currency, typically the US dollar, and are used as vehicles for exchanging national currencies into non-stable cryptocurrencies, with some stablecoins having a ratio of trading volume to outstanding supply exceeding one daily. Using a rich dataset of signed trades and order books on multiple exchanges, we examine how peg-sustaining arbitrage stabilizes the price of the largest stablecoin, Tether. We find that stablecoin issuance, the closest analogue to central-bank intervention, plays only a limited role in stabilization, pointing instead to stabilizing forces on the demand side. Following Tether’s introduction to the Ethereum blockchain in 2019, we find increased investor access to arbitrage trades, and a decline in arbitrage spreads from 70 to 30 basis points. We also pin down which fundamentals drive the two-sided distribution of peg- price deviations: Premiums are due to stablecoins’ role as a safe haven, exhibiting, for example, premiums greater than 100 basis points during the COVID-19 crisis of March 2020; discounts derive from liquidity effects and collateral concerns. Keywords: Cryptocurrency, stablecoins, fixed exchange rates, monetary policy, intervention JEL Classifications: E5, F3, F4, G15, G18 ∗UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and NBER ([email protected]), and Warwick Business School ([email protected]), respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Regulation, Supervision and Oversight of “Global Stablecoin” Arrangements
    Regulation, Supervision and Oversight of “Global Stablecoin” Arrangements Final Report and High-Level Recommendations 13 October 2020 The Financial Stability Board (FSB) coordinates at the international level the work of national financial authorities and international standard-setting bodies in order to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies. Its mandate is set out in the FSB Charter, which governs the policymaking and related activities of the FSB. These activities, including any decisions reached in their context, shall not be binding or give rise to any legal rights or obligations. Contact the Financial Stability Board Sign up for e-mail alerts: www.fsb.org/emailalert Follow the FSB on Twitter: @FinStbBoard E-mail the FSB at: [email protected] Copyright © 2020 Financial Stability Board. Please refer to the terms and conditions Table of Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................. 1 Glossary .................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 7 1. Characteristics of global stablecoins ................................................................................ 9 1.1. Stabilisation mechanism .......................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • From Tether to Libra: Stablecoins, Digital Currency and the Future of Money
    From Tether to Libra: Stablecoins, Digital Currency and the Future of Money Alexander Lipton1, Aetienne Sardon2, Fabian Schar¨ 3, and Christian Schupbach¨ 2 1Sila, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2Swisscom, Digital Business Unit, Fintech 3Center for Innovative Finance, University of Basel [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] I. INTRODUCTION of new technologies, such as Distributed Ledger Technology What first started as a niche phenomenon within the (DLT), has subtly diverged our focus away from ”how can cryptocurrency community has now reached the realms of we create value” to ”how can we use this technology”. multinational conglomerates, policy makers, and central banks. In order to prevent falling prey to deceptive innovation, From JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon to Facebook’s Mark policymakers, incumbents, challengers and the general public Zuckerberg, stablecoins have made their way onto the alike should have the interest to develop a sound understanding agenda of today’s top CEOs. As projects like Libra have of stablecoins. enjoyed broad media coverage they are also increasingly III. WIR: A STABLECOIN PRECURSOR scrutinized by regulatory authorities, [1] [2] [3]. And as the term “stablecoin” spread, its meaning started to blur. This is The concept of devising a supplementary currency system problematic. An unclear definition may make us susceptible is not a new one. One of the most successful examples is to deceptive innovation, that is, reintroducing existing services the Swiss WIR Bank, formerly known as the Swiss Economic but in a different appearance. We ought to ask ourselves: are Circle.
    [Show full text]
  • BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT Digital Assets2021 Institutional Adoptionof Bitbond July 2021 Research Report
    Institutional Adoption of Digital Assets 2021 Bitbond Research Report July 2021 RESEARCH REPORT RESEARCH BITBOND 1 Foreword Capital markets and financial services are currently going through an unprecedented level of change. While fintech companies have been reshaping consumer finance for several years, more recently, this force for change has also arrived in the institutional finance world. Foreword Corporate and investment banks, asset managers, institutional We hope you enjoy reading it and that you will be as excited investors, family offices, and other market participants are as we are when discovering that the institutional adoption becoming increasingly driven by technology. Either to gain a of digital assets is not a future promise but a reality that is competitive advantage, fight decreasing margins, or adapt to already here today. regulatory changes. We thank the entire Bitbond team for putting the hard work As part of this development, financial institutions are increas- into this research piece that it takes to create a full picture of ingly turning to digital assets to take advantage of the vast the status quo. Special thanks go to Bitbond crew members opportunities behind distributed ledger technology (DLT), Felix Stremmer and Henri Falque-Pierrotin, as well as senior blockchain, and decentralized finance (DeFi). At the time of banking analyst Sam Theodore for writing the introduction. publication, the total market capitalization of digital assets is We would equally like to thank all contributors at the around USD 1.4 trillion—a fivefold increase over one year. numerous financial institutions who were so open to sharing their insights with us. Without your input, this report would not While the absolute value may seem insignificant compared have been possible.
    [Show full text]
  • A Formally Verified Crypto-Backed Pegged Algorithmic Stablecoin
    Djed: A Formally Verified Crypto-Backed Pegged Algorithmic Stablecoin Joachim Zahnentferner1, Dmytro Kaidalov1, Jean-Frédéric Etienne1, and Javier Díaz12 1 Input Output Global? {dmytro.kaidalov,jean-frederic.etienne,javier.diaz}@iohk.io 2 Atix Labs [email protected] August 17, 2021 Abstract. This paper describes Djed, an algorithmic stablecoin proto- col that behaves like an autonomous bank that buys and sells stablecoins for a price in a range that is pegged to a target price. It is crypto-backed in the sense that the bank keeps a volatile cryptocurrency in its reserve. The reserve is used to buy stablecoins from users that want to sell them. And revenue from sales of stablecoins to users are stored in the reserve. Besides stablecoins, the bank also trades reservecoins in order to capi- talize itself and maintain a reserve ratio significantly greater than one. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first stablecoin protocol where stability claims are precisely and mathematically stated and proven. Fur- thermore, the claims and their proofs are formally verified using two different techniques: bounded model checking, to exhaustively search for counter-examples to the claims; and interactive theorem proving, to build rigorous formal proofs using a proof assistant with automated theorem proving features. 1 Introduction In the narrowest sense, a stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that has its price pegged to a fiat currency (e.g. USD) and is fully backed by reserves denominated in the same fiat currency. More broadly, a stablecoin can be defined as a digital asset that has mechanisms to maintain a low deviation of its price from a target price.
    [Show full text]
  • Stablecoins and How Do They Work? What Are Stablecoins?
    What Are Stablecoins And How Do They Work? What are stablecoins? Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency The aim of a stablecoin is to offer price stability. One of that are pegged to a reserve asset - the main problems with standard cryptocurrency is meaning fiat currencies like the US dollar the volatility of the prices. Bitcoin can suddenly crash or assets like gold that are physical and and grow over the course of a short period of time, controlled by policymakers. which is unpredictable and impractical. Stablecoins try to solve this by backing against those Although fiat currencies can be volatile in reserve assets. For example, if a stablecoin pegged rare situations, the benefit is that the poli- to the US dollar has 100,000 coins in circulation, cymakers can control the supply and there should be 100,000 USD in a reserve. demand to keep the price stable. Stan- This means that the stablecoins provide the usual dard cryptocurrencies don’t have this benefits of virtual currencies, while also maintaining luxury. a consistent value. What are the different types of stablecoins? There are three different types of stablecoin backed by different things. $ Fiat Every fiat-collateralized stablecoin has a fiat reserve, where every coin is secured by with an equivalent value by a central custodian. Dollar is the most popular, but the reserve could also be something like gold or oil. The theory is that you can directly switch between your stablecoin and the fiat currency. Crypto Crypto-collateralized stablecoins are secured by virtual currencies. Of course, standard cryptocurrency is volatile, so this is usually overcome by employing overcollateralization.
    [Show full text]
  • Blockchain in Banking: a Beginner’S Guide
    Endurance Advisory Partners Blockchain in Banking: A Beginner’s Guide Executive Summary In the last six months, blockchain technology has gone from a complex and arcane topic to increasingly mainstream as the digital technology evolves from concept to use. In July 2020, the OCC allowed banks to provide custody services for digital currencies. In late 2020, Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke at an IMF conference on digital currency saying, “Given the dollar’s important role globally, it's essential that we remain on the frontier of research and policy development.” A month later, Brian Brooks is appointed acting Comptroller of the Currency, and a month after that the OCC approved banks use of digital currencies in payment activities. The political environment is shifting too, as key leaders in the new Administration – Gary Gensler (SEC) and Michael Barr (OCC) – have extensive experience with these new payment technologies. While blockchain has been around for a few decades, these developments move blockchain into the mainstream. What is blockchain? Blockchain is a distributed public ledger stored in a shared database. Blockchain is the system of recording entries in a manner where all parties can confirm entries. As such, no entries can be changed to reverse transactions. This makes data stored in the blockchain as trustworthy as wire confirmations from the Fed. Blockchain technology enables new “payment rails” that don’t flow through central banks. Blockchain has four key attributes: 1) security, 2) transparency, 3) decentralization, and 4) efficiency. By virtue of its architecture, blockchain is secure. Therefore, currency recorded in a blockchain is just as surely “money” as a dollar bill.
    [Show full text]
  • Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., NYSE Arca, Inc., and Vedder Price P.C
    MEMORANDUM TO: File No. SR-NYSEArca-2019-01 FROM: Lauren Yates Office of Market Supervision, Division of Trading and Markets DATE: March 20, 2019 SUBJECT: Meeting with Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., NYSE Arca, Inc., and Vedder Price P.C. __________________________________________________________________________ On March 19, 2019, Elizabeth Baird, Christian Sabella, Natasha Greiner, Michael Coe, Edward Cho, Neel Maitra, David Remus (by phone), and Lauren Yates from the Division of Trading and Markets; Charles Garrison, Johnathan Ingram, Cindy Oh, Andrew Schoeffler (by phone), Amy Starr (by phone), Sara Von Althann, and David Walz (by phone) from the Division of Corporation Finance; and David Lisitza (by phone) from the Office of General Counsel, met with the following individuals: Teddy Fusaro, Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. Matt Hougan, Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. Hope Jarkowski, NYSE Arca, Inc. Jamie Patturelli, NYSE Arca, Inc. David DeGregorio, NYSE Arca, Inc. (by phone) Tom Conner, Vedder Price P.C. John Sanders, Vedder Price P.C. The discussion concerned NYSE Arca, Inc.’s proposed rule change to list and trade, pursuant to NYSE Arca Rule 8.201-E, shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust. Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. also provided the attached presentation to the Commission Staff. Bitwise Asset Management Presentation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission March 19, 2019 About Bitwise 01 VENTURE INVESTORS Pioneer: Created the world’s first crypto index fund. 02 TEAM BACKGROUNDS Specialist: The only asset we invest in is crypto. 03 Experienced: Deep expertise in crypto, asset management and ETFs. 2 Today’s Speakers Teddy Fusaro Matt Hougan Chief Operating Officer Global Head of Research Previously Senior Vice President and Senior Previously CEO of Inside ETFs.
    [Show full text]